Euro RSCG awarded creative duties of India TV

A couple of days ago, Media Planning Group (MPG) - the media agency of the Euro RSCG Group India - had bagged the estimated Rs 25-crore media duties of Mother Dairy. Yesterday, as already reported by agencyfaqs!, MPG added the Rs 30-40-crore Kejian mobile handsets media account to its portfolio. Now, Euro RSCG India has news of one more new business gain to share.

India TV, news and current affairs anchor Rajat Sharma's soon-to-be-launched news channel, has hired the agency as its marketing and communications consultant. While this may sound a little different from the conventional role of an advertising agency, Sanjeev Roy, director, Euro RSCG, Delhi, explains, "We are going to handle the entire communication for India TV, where creative and media are a part of the overall function." While the exact size of the India TV account could not be ascertained, sources in the know confirm that it is a fairly substantial business. For the record, the win was not preceded by a pitch. "There was no pitch - we were given the business," says Roy.

Indeed, Euro RSCG is quite excited about the new business gain, and the task at hand for the agency is to make India TV a successful news channel. "Rajat Sharma has a vision, and the challenge for us it to execute that," says Roy, adding, "We would be involved with the news channel at every stage of development. From the kind of programmes that would go on air to the manner and tone the channel should adopt, we would work in close association with India TV."

Given the fact that the news television space is already cluttered with channel, attracting eyeballs and getting a share of the viewer's mindspace would be a challenge for India TV and its new agency. While Sharma agrees there is no space for just another news channel, he firmly believes there is room for a "responsible news channel". Due for launch on May 20, 2004, the free-to-air channel would be beamed from the PAS 10 satellite that also beams channels such as Sony, Ten Sports, ESPN, HBO, MTV, BBC and CNN. © 2004 agencyfaqs!